StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Even more livestreams from St. Louis

No real theme to this week's post, other than to gather some of the most recent livestream performances from St. Louis musicians and presenters, starting up above with a set by soul/jazz band Hip Grease, recorded back at the beginning of March and released this past week by Jazz St. Louis. The musicians are Ben Reece (saxophones), Adam Hucke (trumpet, flugelhorn), Dave Grelle (keyboards), Andy Coco (bass), and Joe Meyer (drums).

After the jump, you can see a set by the latest project from guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran. Skamasala features Halloran, trombonist John Covelli and bassist Max Kelly playing a mix of "Jamaican ska with American jazz." This performance was recorded at Focal Point and released online this past week.

Next up, it's a performance from singer Joe Mancuso, recorded on Friday, March 19 as part of the "Open Air" series at The Grandel.

That's followed by some traditional jazz from The Gaslight Squares, recorded on March 2 at The Sheldon, and a set from smooth jazz/R&B saxophonist Rhoda G, also recorded at The Grandel back on March 14.

Last but not least is the latest streaming performance from pianist Peter Martin, in which after a year's worth of solo performances online, Martin is joined by a guest, bassist Bob DeBoo.

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...

"All-Star Jazz Fundraiser Festival" set for Saturday, April 17 at The Grandel

More than two dozen St. Louis musicians will team up for "The All-Star Jazz Fundraiser Festival," a benefit event to be held from 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 17 in the "Open Air" tent on the grounds of The Grandel in Grand Center.

The event is being organized by saxophonist Kendrick Smith (pictured), and will feature five different groups of musicians performing individually ticketed, hour-long sets. The tent will be cleared, and the seating areas cleaned and sanitized after each set before a new audience is seated. The set times and lineups are:

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Demarius Hicks, Kasimu Taylor, Janet Buchanan, Bernard Terry, Will Buchanan
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: Anita Jackson, Jahmal Nichols, Jason Swagler, Mark Harris II, Dhoruba Hill
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Adam Maness, Brady Lewis, Joseph Hibbs, Ben Wheeler, Carlos Brown Jr.
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.: Darrell Mixon, Dawn Weber, Josiah Joyce, Ryan Marquez, Gary Sykes
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Ptah Williams, Bob Deboo, Micah Walker, Joe Mancuso, Kendrick Smith

Proceeds from the event will go towards helping two small local jazz venues, Thurman's in Shaw in south St. Louis and The Cigar Inn in Belleville; radio station WSIE; and "some musicians heavily affected by the pandemic."

Tickets are $20 per set, and are on sale now via MetroTix.

Open Air series bringing live music back to Grand Center starting Friday, August 7

Jazz St. Louis and the Kranzberg Arts Foundation have announced a new concert series called Open Air, which will bring live music back to the Grand Center district on Friday and Saturday nights starting in August and continuing through October.

The series will take place in what's described as "a spacious, covered, outdoor area" next to the Grandel Theater building, with food and beverages available by advance orders from The Dark Room's menu.

The lineup for the first two weekends features some of the Kranzberg Foundation's music artists-in-residence, past and present, with Be.Be & The Neo-Souls inaugurating the series on Friday, August 7 and trumpeter Brady Lewis (pictured) and his quartet performing on Saturday, August 8.

Up next will be drummer Kaleb Kirby's quartet on Friday, August 14 and keyboardist Mark Harris II on Saturday, August 15, with additional bookings TBA.

There will be two seatings by reservation only per evening, at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at $10 per person, with an additional $30 food and beverage minimum per guest.

Guests can purchase tickets via Metrotix, and then will be sent an online form to pre-order food and drinks of their choice. Additional beverages will be available for purchase on the day of each event.

To ensure guest and staff safety and maintain appropriate physical distance, parties will be limited to six guests per table, and all guests will be required to follow the Kranzberg Foundation's COVID-19 mitigation policies, including wearing face masks at all times except when seated at their reserved tables.

Jazz this week: David Sanborn, Norman Brown's "Summer Storm," The New Mastersounds, Diego Figueiredo, and more

It's a jam-packed week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with notable shows including a homecoming for one of our city's favorite sons, plus sounds from a visiting Broadway star, a British funk band, a Brazilian guitarist, and much more.

Let's go to the highlights...

Wednesday, October 16
Singer and actress Rachel Bay Jones, known as one of the stars of the Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen, performs for the first of two nights at Jazz St. Louis as part of their series of co-presentations with Cabaret Project of St. Louis.

Nearby in Grand Center, the weekly "Wednesday Night Jazz Crawl" features Sweet & Low (guitarists Adam Wilke and Celia Shacklett) at The Stage at KDHX; the jam session hosted by bassist Bob Deboo at the Kranzberg Arts Center; and trumpeter Kasimu Taylor's quartet at The Dark Room.

Thursday, October 17
Guitarist Bob Lanzetti of Snarky Puppy will perform at Pop's Blue Moon; and the Jazz at Holmes series at Washington University presents a free concert of Argentinian and Brazilian music, featuring pianist Ken Kehner, guitarist William Lenihan, bassist Joseph Lepore, and drummer Steve Davis with Amy Greenhalgh (violin), Ranya Iqbal (cello), and Victoria Voumard (viola).

Also on Thursday, saxophonist Andy Ament leads a trio at The Pat Connolly Tavern, and keyboardist Ryan Marquez returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, October 18
Saxophonist David Sanborn (pictured, top left) will be back home again for a performance at The Sheldon, helping to celebrate the completion and official debut of a plaza, walkway and vertical garden on the west side of the hall.

Also on Friday, Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo (pictured, center left) will perform with backing from bassist and singer Janet Evra's quartet at the Grandel Theatre; and Jazz St. Louis will be "Celebrating Ella Fitzgerald" for the first of two nights with singer Anita Jackson, pianist Adaron "Pops" Jackson, bassist Jahmal Nichols, drummer Montez Coleman and saxophonist Ben Reece.

Elsewhere around town, the Original Knights of Swing plays for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom; singer Jan Shapiro returns to the Ozark Theatre; and trumpeter Jim Manley will play a late evening gig at Sophie's Artist Lounge & Cocktail Club.

Saturday, October 19
British funk/jazz group The New Mastersounds (pictured, bottom left) returns for a performance at the Atomic Cowboy Pavilion.

They're celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band with a new album, Shake It, released last month, and a tour featuring guest vocalist Lamar Williams, Jr. For more about Shake It plus some videos of recent performances, take a look at this post from last Saturday.

Also on Saturday, guitarist Norman Brown and his "Summer Storm" show, featuring saxophonist Euge Groove, singer Lindsay Webster, and the Coleman Hughes Project, will play two shows at the Grandel Theatre; pianist Geoffrey Keezer leads a trio in a concert at Open Studio in Grand Center's Centene Center for the Arts; and the New Orleans Suspects are back in town to play at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, October 20
Miss Jubilee performs for jazz brunch at Evangeline's, while guitarist and singer Tommy Halloran returns to The Dark Room.

Also on Sunday, the St. Louis Jazz Club presents the Arcadia Dance Orchestra at the Moolah Shrine Center's Oasis Room.

Tuesday, October 21
Pianist and singer Jesse Gannon plays at BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

Jazz this week: The Bad Plus v 2.0, Storm Large, "Winter Jazz Fest," and more

It's a big week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with one performance that's literally drawing international attention, the debut of a new festival, and more.

Let's go to the highlights...


Wednesday, January 17
The gig making headlines all over the globe is the live debut of the revised lineup of The Bad Plus, who will be doing their first-ever performances with new pianist Orrin Evans starting Wednesday night and continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro.

Evans, who replaces founding member Ethan Iverson, already has recorded an album with the group, which is being released this week and was spotlighted last week by NPR's "First Listen" feature. (NPR also will be recording The Bad Plus during their stay in St. Louis for a future episode of the network's "Jazz Night In America" program.)

While that live stream of the new album may have expired by the time you read this, those who are curious about The Bad Plus v 2.0 (pictured, top left) but can't make it to the Bistro this week can watch a live online stream of Friday night's first set for free, starting at 7:30 p.m. on Jazz St. Louis' Facebook page.

Also on Wednesday, singer Storm Large returns, this time with her band Le Bonheur, for a performance at the Sheldon Concert Hall. While her several previous appearances here in recent years have been in a cabaret setting and with the dance orchestra Pink Martini, this show will offer Large a chance to show off more of her rock-oriented material with a full band.

Thursday, January 18
Guitarist Todd Mosby's New Horizons Ensemble performs at Sky Music Lounge; The People’s Key will play at the Chase Club; and saxophonist Ben Reece‘s Unity Quartet returns to The Dark Room.

Friday, January 19
Saxophonist Kendrick Smith begins a new weekly residency, leading a trio every Friday starting this week at Thurman's in Shaw; and the Ambassadors of Swing play for dancers at the Casa Loma Ballroom.

Saturday,
January 20
The first-ever "Winter Jazz Fest," headlined by jazz/fusion band Yellowjackets, will take place at the Grandel Theatre.

Unlike the long-established, week-long, multi-venue New York City event with which it shares a name, this fest is a single-night, single-location concert, with an emphasis on electric contemporary jazz.

In addition to Yellowjackets (pictured, bottom left), the show also will feature saxophonist Eric Marienthal, Bach to The Future, Tracer (aka pianist Ptah Williams' trio in fusion mode), pianist Royce Martin, and the adjacent Dark Room's regular Saturday night performer, keyboardist Mo Egeston.

If you're thinking about going but don't yet have tickets, Metrotix is offering a "buy one ticket, get the second at half-price" discount to online buyers. To access the offer, go to this page and enter the promo code WINTERJAZZ.

Also on Saturday, saxophonist Dave Stone's begins a new weekly gig at Thurman's in Shaw; Miss Jubilee returns to the Casa Loma Ballroom; and the Funky Butt Brass Band will do their monthly performance at the Broadway Oyster Bar.

Sunday, January 21
The Dave Dickey Big Band performs in the first of a projected series of gigs this year at the Grandel Theatre, with the Lindbergh HS Jazz Ensemble as opener and intermission act.

Monday, January 22
Dizzy Atmosphere plays swing and Gypsy jazz for diners at The Shaved Duck, and singer and impressionist Dean Christopher will present his "Rat Pack and More" show at One 19 North Tapas & Wine Bar.

For more jazz-related events in and around St. Louis, please visit the St. Louis Jazz Notes Calendar, which can be found on the left sidebar of the site or by clicking here. You also can keep up with all the latest news by following St. Louis Jazz Notes on Twitter at http://twitter.com/StLJazzNotes or clicking the "Like" icon on the StLJN Facebook page.

(If you have calendar items, band schedule information, news tips, links, or anything else you think may be of interest to StLJN's readers, please email the information to stljazznotes (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you have photos, MP3s or other digital files, please send links, not attachments.)

So What: Local News, Notes & Links

Here's StLJN's latest wrap-up of assorted links and short news items of local interest:

* Jazz St. Louis is looking to hire a full-time Education Associate to help launch a new program for at-risk middle school students called Jazz Academy. For more information about the job and how to apply, go here.

* In advance of his gig tonight for The Sheldon's annual fundraising gala, guitarist and singer George Benson did a brief Q&A with St. Louis magazine's Erin Williams.

* Singer Joe Mancuso has organized an event to raise money for music scholarships in the name of the late saxophonist Willie Akins. Set up as a structured jam involving a couple of dozen St. Louis musicians, the "Willie Akins Jazz Festival" is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 28 at the Grandel Theatre, with an informal jam session at The Dark Room to follow. Mancuso also has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the scholarship fund.

* The Bosman Twins (pictured) were interviewed last week on the WSIE (88.7 FM) program "Voices," and their chat with host Hank Thompson has been archived online as an MP3 file here.

* The STL Free Jazz Collective has posted on Facebook a photo album from their recent show at the 14th St Artists Community.

* The website Sound of STL has photo coverage of the recent gig by Thomas Fujiwara's The Hookup presented by New Music Circle at The Stage at KDHX.

* Speaking of KDHX, singer Ken Haller's latest reprise of his cabaret entertainment "The Medicine Show" was reviewed for the station by Chuck Lavazzi.

* In the latest chapter in the saga of the Goldenrod Showboat, St. Louis Public Radio reports that the remains of the venerable venue - once home to performances of ragtime and vintage jazz on the St. Louis riverfront - are sinking in the flooded Illinois River. The flooding threatens the plans of preservationists who hoped to salvage artifacts and materials from the boat for display in a museum.

* The British music magazine The Wire has published an excerpt from Message To Our Folks, bassist and Washington University faculty member Paul Steinbeck's new book about the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

* "The Music Seen - Beyond the Stage," an exhibit featuring music-related images from seven different photographers, will open with receptions from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Friday, June 9 and from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday, June 10 at Bullivant Gallery, 3321 Washington Blvd in Grand Center. The exhibit, which features work from Michael Eastman, David Godlis, Jason Lee, Charles Peterson, David Rocco, Dr. Ernest Withers, and Baron Wolman, continues through Friday, July 14.

* Just in time for Mothers Day, the St. Louis American's Kenya Vaughn interviews Shirley Harrold, a St. Louis mom whose flock of 16 children includes two young jazz stars, trumpeter Keyon Harrold and drummer Emanuel Harrold.

Freddie Washington to open Black Rep concert series on Sunday, January 29

Saxophonist Freddie Washington (pictured) and his group will be the first performers for a Sunday night concert series being presented by the Black Rep. Washington will kick off the series at 7:00 p.m. this Sunday, January 29 at the Grandel Theater.

A mainstay on the local jazz scene from the 1960s through the mid-2000s, Washington recently returned to St. Louis after living in Dallas, Nashville and Atlanta. The Black Rep's marketing director Joe Hanrahan tells StLJN that Washington's concert is the first of a planned series of four or five Sunday night shows that will take place about once a month this winter and spring. (We'll have info on any further jazz-related performances right here when more details are revealed.)

Tickets for Freddie Washington at the Grandel Theater are $20, and can be reserved by calling the Black Rep box office at 314-534-3810.

Black Rep announces Sunday concert series

The St. Louis Black Repertory Company has announced a new Sunday night concert series to be presented at the Grandel Theater, and several of the acts involved may be of interest to local jazz enthusiasts.

The series' jazz-related offerings include singer Brian Owens and the Cole Sessions Trio, who will kick off the series at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 1; singer Anita Jackson, who will perform on Sunday, March 29; and the jazz/Latin/world music band Farshid Etniko, who will take the stage on Sunday, April 5.

Other performances in the Black Rep's Sunday concert series will include the Genesis Arts Ministry on Sunday, March 8; the Voices of Praise Choir on Sunday, March 15; and a Father's Day benefit concert, with musicians TBA, on Sunday, June 21. The Black Rep also will present a free open house featuring preview performances from some of the Sunday series acts at 6:00 p.m. this Sunday, February 22 at the Grandel.

Tickets for the concerts are $20 each, and are available through Metrotix.